


Spinning To A New Disaster

by Claire



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 05:32:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8785099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Claire/pseuds/Claire
Summary: The new Argent matriarch decides that it's time for Chris to remarry. Peter is the wrench in her plans.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Petopher Appreciation Week Day 3: Tropes.
> 
> So, pretend husbands, yes? :D

"No, wait, I'm not--"

Chris pulls the phone away from his ear, staring at it as the dial tone gets louder. Well, fuck, this is all he needs.

~

The pack meeting comes to a close as Scott stands up, clapping his hands together. "Okay," he says, "if there's nothing else--"

"Pizza!" Stiles interrupts, already leaning over the sofa to grab the phone to call in the usual order that happens after pack meetings.

"I have something," Chris says, pausing for a moment when the others look over to him. "After I, after we, lost Allison, the matriarchy of the family passed over to a cousin of mine, and they'll be coming to Beacon Hills in the next couple of days."

"And what, Argent? You need us there to play welcoming party?"

Chris ignores the words beyond glaring at where Peter is leaning against the wall, looking like the last place he wants to be is in a pack gathering at Scott's house.

"Catherine has decided that it would be best for our family if we made an allegiance with another hunter family." Chris scrubs his hand over his face, part of him not even believing he's saying this. "An allegiance through marriage." He can tell from the look on Melissa's face that she's already got it.

"Seriously, Chris. That's insane. And you're just going to do this?"

"Our women lead, Mel, and the men follow. What else can I do?" Because he's been thinking about this ever since the call came, ever since Catherine told him that she was coming to Beacon Hills, and she'd be bringing the eldest daughter of the Sheppards with her.

"And while that's a great idea for a utopian society, it hardly works as the basis of a marriage." Mel gets to her feet, looking to John for support.

"Oh, I don't know about that, Melissa, I'd say that's rather a wonderful basis for a marriage."

"For god's sake, Peter, you know what I mean," Mel snaps, rolling her eyes when all Peter does in response is hold his hands up in supplication.

Stiles looks from Melissa to Chris, confusion written on his face. "Hold on, marriage?"

"Do keep up, Stiles." Peter smirks as he pushes himself away from the wall, sauntering over to where Chris is standing. "Our erstwhile hunter here is about to celebrate his nuptials, thanks to a new Argent matriarch who has apparently decided that the gene pool needs more little Argents running about. Am I right, Christopher?" He grins at Chris, as he rests a hand on his shoulder, pouting when Chris shrugs him off.

"It pains me to say so, but yes, Peter's right."

"Can't you just refuse?" John asks.

And, god, Chris wishes he could. But there's more at stake here than just Chris' currently single status. Other hunter families have agreed to leave Beacon Hills alone, and they may have done it on Chris' word, but only because he had the support of the Argent Matriarch behind him. Which meant he had the entire Argent family behind him. After Allison died and Catherine stepped up to be matriarch, she told Chris that she'd let him continue with his little experiment to see if a werewolf pack could be controlled (even if it's not that, even if it's never been that), but that she'd expect his co-operation further down the line. He'd just never anticipated it being on this. And if he refuses, then she'll pull the support of the family from his control of Beacon Hills, leaving it open for any other hunters to come swanning in and trying their luck with both a true alpha and the Hale-McCall pack.

"It doesn't work that way, John." Chris wishes to hell that it did.

"What if we tell them you're already dating someone?" Lydia suggests. "Would a prior claim on your affections take priority?"

"Doubtful," Chris admits. Especially not when Catherine had started the conversation with small talk, asking how he was doing, if he'd started dipping his toes back into the dating pool yet. She'd led him by the nose into a corner he couldn't talk his way out of. And now they're on their way to Beacon Hills, with a girl nearly half his age, who he's only met once before, and expecting him to sign his name to a marriage licence.

Ever since that call came through, Chris has been trying to work out a way to both get out of this marriage and make sure that Beacon Hills stays protected from hunters who would come in just to be able to say they were the ones who took down the last remaining members of the Hale family, as well as the rest of the pack. And so far, he's come up with jack shit.

~

Eyeing the nearly full bottle of whiskey sitting on the cabinet, Chris wonders if it's worth just drinking it and passing the next few days in a drunken stupor. He'd gotten a call from Catherine earlier stating that they were just checking into the motel before they were planning on heading over, ending the call with the imperious statement of hoping that Chris had made an effort for the first proper meeting with his future wife.

Scrubbing a hand over his eyes, Chris banks down on the growl he can feel welling in him. He knows the Sheppards, has worked with them a few times. Mike is a good hunter, and Elizabeth has led the family for years, ever since her mother-in-law got killed by a rougarou they'd been hunting down in Louisiana. (Chris also remembers her having the filthiest sense of humour he'd ever found in someone, and a tendency to swear like a sailor.) The last time he'd worked with them, their eldest, Ellie, had only been 12, and had taken it particularly badly that she wasn't going to be allowed to hunt the rogue wolf he and Vic had tracked into the Sheppards' territory. He remembers a kid who had pouted and stamped her foot before storming up to her bedroom, and now he's expected to look at her as a potential spouse. Hell, there's no potential about it, just a decree laid down by the now matriarch of the Argent family.

Fuck it, he thinks, taking a step towards the whiskey, only to stop in his tracks as he hears a car pulling up outside the house. Casting a longing glance to the bottle, Chris trails fingers through his hair, before walking towards the door to let his not-particularly-welcome guests in.

Catherine is already on the doorstep when Chris opens the door, her husband and a young woman Chris can tell is Ellie behind her.

"Chris, it's wonderful to see you," Catherine says as she hugs him briefly, walking past him and into the house before Chris has the opportunity to invite her in.

"You, too, Catherine," Chris replies, wondering if the lie in his tone is as obvious to everyone else as it is to him.

Ellie steps forward after Catherine walks into the house, her hand outstretched. "Mr Argent, it's good to see you again."

"Given the situation, Ellie, you should call me Chris." Because he already feels old enough to be her father (he's ignoring the part of himself that tells him he actually is old enough), being called 'Mr Argent' just makes him feel like he's Gerard, and that's the last place he wants to go.

"Chris." She smiles as she says it, and he can see the cheekily petulant 12 year old she used to be. He can also see a beautiful young woman with a faint blush to her cheeks.

Fuck, he feels like a dirty old man.

Turning away from Ellie, he looks at the man next to her. "Alan," he nods.

"Chris." And it's good to know his cousin is just as talkative as he's always been.

Following Alan and Ellie into the house and closing the door behind him, Chris takes a breath before heading into the family room. He's tempted to offer everyone a drink, but he thinks that if he starts drinking tonight, he probably won't stop until the past few weeks are nothing but a drunken hazy thought in the back of his mind.

"Coffee?" he offers, taking the opportunity to escape to the kitchen for a few minutes to make the drinks.

When he hands the mug to Catherine, she places it on the coffee table in front of her without taking a drink. "We should talk about the arrangements for the merging of our two families."

Merging. It's such a polite way of putting it

Catherine continues, reaching out to pat at Ellie's hand. "Tomorrow, we'll head into--"

Her words are interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.

Only, Melissa's the only other one with a key, and that's just for emergencies. She's never used it, and she'd hardly just walk in when she knew Chris was home, especially given that she knows who was arriving today.

"Darling," a voice that sounds suspiciously like Peter Hale calls out, "I'm home!"

What. The. Everloving. Fuck.

The frown on Catherine's face widens as she turns to Chris. "Chris?"

She doesn't get another word out as Peter swans into the room like he owns the place.

Chris schools his face as Peter strolls over to him, planting a quick kiss on his cheek, before turning to Catherine. His fingers clench as he stops himself from reaching out, grabbing the wolf, and dragging him into the kitchen to ask him what the hell is going on.

"You must be Catherine," Peter says brightly, holding out his hand. "I'm Peter, Christopher's husband."

To Be Continued...


End file.
